vitamin d deficient?

[Cullens_Girl]

How can I boost it? Apparently my levels are extremely low, but after googling it some more and reading about some symptoms, it explains me perfectly. My biggest concern is bone loss.

I'm on an 8 wk supplement and then it was recommended I take 1000ius daily after that.

I'm lactose intolerant - we drink raw goats milk here.

Suggestions on some natural ways to boost it? I'm fair skinned so I can't very well go out and bake in the sun 20 minutes a day - nevermind that its October. lol

[KimPM]

I'm fair skinned, and I was low in D. I also don't convert well from the sun to vitamin D. I take a supplement. It's brought my levels from the low teens to the upper 30s. I was taking 3000 IU a day, now I'm down to 2000 IU a day. I would take more, like 5000 IU, but I'm sensitive to lanolin, and the vitamin D2 doesn't work for me, so I have to do the fish-based D, which usually comes with vitamin A. If you're going to supplement, spreading the dose over a day can help the body absorb it all.

[sbgrace]

The vitamin D council has great information online. You can safely take 10,000 IU per day no matter your levels (so even if you were normal and you're not). So what I would do/what I did was take 10,000 IU per day of D3 form. You do not want the prescription form as it is not D3. You want D3 and the vitamin D council has information about why. I corrected levels pretty quickly (and felt much better) with the 10,000 per day. I dropped but you don't drop to 1000 IU. The average person needs 1000 IU per 25 pounds to maintain current levels. So drop to 1000 IU per 25 pounds once you get your level at 50 or higher. Normal is not 30 or 40..even if the lab slip says it's ok. The vitamin D council will have more information about that as well.

[pregnant@40]

What amt is your 8 week supplement?

My mother was tested by a doc, found to be vit D deficient, and was prescribed 50,000 IU once a week for a certain period of time (forgot how long). Now that her levels have been restored, she was told to take 1000 IU per day to maintain.

However, 15 min of sunlight can make all you need for a week (depending on cloud cover).

[KimPM]

Originally Posted by pregnant@40

However, 15 min of sunlight can make all you need for a week (depending on cloud cover).

...if your body can convert it. Apparently I cannot convert well at all. I don't know all the details, but it has something to do with your cholesterol metabolism. My cholesterol levels are always naturally very low. You might think that's good, but one problem with them being so low is the sunlight to vitamin D conversion suffers.

[JaneS]

Those 50,000 IU prescriptions are D2... the synthetic form, you don't want to take that b/c it has calcium related side effects. Stick with D3 and follow instructions from Vitamin D Council for loading and testing.

Dani,
I'm in MA too, we are too far from equator... you cannot make D from the sun at this time of year, it's at the wrong angle.

I take at least 5000 IU of D3 per day to keep my blood levels up during winter, I get tested regularly.